


on-call boyfriends

by orphan_account



Series: troy and abed fake date (and then fall in love for real) [2]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Homophobia, M/M, Season 1, i am maybe posting this in hopes it will give me the energy to actually finish writing it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25489975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: abed's dealing with a classic coming-of-age conflict: his dad is too controlling. following (terrible) advice from one britta perry, he enlists troy to help him get back at his dad using the mother of all get-back-at-your-dad schemes: the fake-boyfriend plot. this leads troy and abed down a path of hijinks, friendship, and vague homoeroticism.idk i have only one dumb premise in my brain and i'm sticking to it. i don't proofread anything hope y'all enjoyyyyy
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Series: troy and abed fake date (and then fall in love for real) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846486
Comments: 15
Kudos: 116





	1. Chapter 1

“Abed in the house!”

Abed looked up from his life science textbook to see Britta approaching him, waving her arms at her sides in what he thought might be an attempt at dancing. He couldn’t really tell.

“Hi Britta,” He raised his hand to wave, but as she approached, she held out her palms to him expectantly. He sighed and slapped her palms, which she swung around in fists to cross in front of her. He paused in thought for a second, before crossing his fists at his chest to fist bump her.

“No, that’s not right,” Britta said, drawing her hands back. “You’re supposed to grab my fists first, unwind them, and _then_ fist bump. Come on, Abed, we’re only in the first movement.”

“Britta.” He frowned. “I don’t think this is working out.”

“What? Having a secret handshake was your idea.”

“I thought a secret handshake was the staple of any friendship. You’ve proved me wrong. This is the third handshake you’ve come up with, and they’ve all been terrible. This can’t go on any longer.”

Britta looked like she was about to cry. “Are you- are you friend-breaking up with me?”

“I’m handshake-breaking up with you.” He raised a finger. “As disappointing as it is for me, I’m willing to accept that we can be friends without a secret handshake. Otherwise, I would just have to cut you out of my life forever.”

Britta pouted. “Harsh, Abed.”

“Don’t feel too bad. This is the third handshake-breakup I’ve had to orchestrate.” He thought sadly of his short-lived handshake with Shirley, which he had to cut off when she tried to add a five-minute pause in the middle for silent prayer. “We can’t all be Troy. Troy came up with the perfect handshake – short, distinct, punchy. Perfect cinematic shorthand to show that two characters are good friends.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t be too disappointed that the rest of you failed to live up to that.”

Britta’s expression changed, her eyebrows rising sharply. She didn’t look sad, but Abed couldn’t for the life of him decide what this new expression meant. “So, how are things with Troy? Are you two friends?”

Abed cocked his head. “…Yes?”

“That’s good. I was a little worried about him being mean to you. Troy seems like such a rough jock, you know, and you’re a weird-” She stopped herself. “-A weirdly interesting person!”

Abed raised his index finger. “It’s true that Troy and I are archetypes that would usually be at odds with each other. However, I don’t foresee that kind of conflict becoming a recurring arc. We’ve established rules of not messing with each other.” He smiled, a brief flash-in-the-pan closed-mouth grin. “I like rules.”

The truth was that at first, he had thought Troy might be mean to him. Troy certainly hadn’t made the best opening impression, calling him a couple of borderline-racist nicknames and trying to get Abed to do his homework for him on more than one occasion. Abed had thought that might be alright – bully characters were an iconic staple of stories about schools, and he was the clearest target for that bullying. If it made their study group stronger, he could take it. He had just hoped that Troy didn’t try to shove him in any lockers.

But Troy had surprised him. Abed had suggested, in their first week of being friends, that they spend the time they saved by half-assing their Spanish conversation to write a Spanish-language rap song for extra credit (which, granted, Senor Chang hadn’t actually offered to give them, but Abed felt sure he would be swayed by the power of music). He expected Troy to blow him off, to leave him behind to throw a football around or use him to pick up girls or something else that jocks did - Abed had an admittedly limited knowledge of jock activities. But Troy had been even more excited to do it than Abed was. He had stayed with Abed hours after school had ended to work on the rap, and he had even taken Abed to McDonalds with him so they could keep working on it. Abed had found himself recalibrating his analysis of Troy the longer he stayed, until he found he wasn’t really sure what to think of him anymore.

Troy was not the jock he had expected him to be, that was certain. He was something entirely new. Abed opened up a new folder in his mind – completely empty - and began to fill it with his observations. Troy’s eyes got very wide when he was excited or surprised. Troy ate very fast. Troy was good at rap, but terrible at Spanish. Troy seemed to be more of the jock that Abed thought he was when other people were around, but around Abed he seemed to let his guard down a little. It was all very fascinating.

“Well, I’m glad to hear you two are getting along.” Britta’s voice broke Abed from his reverie. “How about your film class? Is your dad still being supportive?”

Abed shrugged. “It’s alright. He’s alright, too.” He didn’t really like talking about his dad, but he felt like he owed Britta a little, after using her to make his documentary. “He wants me home all the time, though. I wish he’d be less controlling.”

“Controlling?” Britta exclaimed. “Abed, you’re your own person. You can’t just let your dad walk all over you!”

“Try telling him that. It took a whole episo- a whole week and an emotional documentary to get him to let me to take a film class. I can’t just tell him that I’m not coming home for dinner every night anymore.”

Britta’s expression changed again, into one that was even more difficult for Abed to interpret. He wasn’t sure if she was confused, or just thinking really hard.

After a moment, she smiled. “You know, I ran away from home before my parents could be overprotective during my college years. And I also didn’t have any college years, until now. But I totally have the best idea for how to deal with this.”

“Deal with this? What do you mean?”

“To get your dad off your back, obviously!”

Abed retreated into his brain for a moment to analyze what was about to come next. He couldn’t predict what Britta was about to say, but even so, he knew with ninety-five percent certainty that whatever idea she had was certain to be on-hundred percent terrible and unhelpful. He smiled at her. “Sounds great, I’d love to hear it.”

Britta clapped her hands. “You should pretend to get a girlfriend! Bring someone over for dinner to show him that you're independent and he can’t control your life anymore. It’s foolproof.”

Abed raised his eyebrows. “How does that work?”

“Trust me, Abed, I’ve talked to your dad. I saw how he reacted to your weird little documentary. You can’t just tell him that you need space – you need to show him.”

“Show him… that I’ve got a girlfriend?”

“Yeah! He’ll disapprove, but then he’ll realize that you’re your own man and he can’t hold you down.” Britta pumped her fist. “He’ll get angry, you’ll stop speaking to each other, you’ll run away to join an anarchist cult and shave your head, and then-” She paused, seeing Abed’s widened eyes. “Um, that experience might not be universal. But the point is, it’ll totally prove that you’re not a little kid anymore and you don’t need him watching you all the time.”

Abed pondered this. He had been ready to write off Britta’s advice, but as he considered, he realized she did have more life experience than him. And “bringing home a significant other to a disapproving father” was a standard TV plot, so how could it fail if he already knew the rules? He nodded. “Okay.”

Britta grinned. “Perfect! If you need anyone for the role, I’d be happy to step up. I may be a little older than you, but just last week the flasher who lives in my apartment’s laundry room said I didn’t look a day over-”

“I’m gonna ask Troy to do it.”

Britta’s eyebrows shot halfway up her forehead. “Troy? Um, wouldn’t your dad have… a problem with that?”

“The whole point is for him to disapprove.” Abed waggled his eyebrows. “Might as well go all in. Besides, Troy owes me a favor. I let him glue all his loose change to my ceiling fan last week.” Britta opened her mouth, but she seemed too confused to respond. Abed shot Britta a finger gun, stood up, and exited the room. Time to find Troy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones a little more... sentimental? idk

“You want me to… pretend to be your boyfriend?” Troy snorted. “That’s gay, dude.”

“Yeah.” Abed agreed, sitting down next to Troy on the study room couch. He pulled out his Spanish textbook and began folding back the corner of the first page absentmindedly. “I figured that will optimize the amount of disapproval from my father, which will prove I’m my own man.” He shrugged. “Or something. Britta seemed very convinced this was a good idea.”

Troy raised one eyebrow. “This is Britta’s idea? Isn’t she, like, insane?”

Abed frowned. “Is she? I thought she was more of the down-to-earth, straight woman of the group.” He paused to reflect on this. “I guess I could see her as insane. She’s very passionate. We’ll have to see how her character develops.”

Troy was looking at him like he was an alien. Abed shrunk back a little. Troy hadn’t looked at him like that since the debacle of October Fifteenth, when Abed had tried to convince hm that he was an alien. A pit formed in Abed’s stomach. He swallowed.

“The point is.” He said, trying to shake off the feeling of Troy’s stare. “I need to get my dad to be less controlling over my life. So. I need to take my boyfriend home to meet him.”

Troy’s eyes narrowed further for a second. Then, as if he had made up his mind, he shrugged. “Sure, dude. I do owe you, anyway.”

Abed nodded. “Ceiling fan coins.”

“Ceiling fan coins.” Troy agreed. “So, dinner at your dad’s house this weekend?”

Abed nodded and reached his hands out for their handshake, and Troy reciprocated. Punchy, succinct, and perfect. If there was any sign that he and Troy were friends, their handshake was it. People who weren’t friends couldn’t pull of that handshake.

* * *

At dinner with his dad that night, which was typically silent aside from Gobi’s occasional scolds, Abed cleared his throat. “Is it okay if I bring someone over for dinner on Friday, dad?”

Gobi set down his spoon. “Who? Not that blonde girl with the bony face or the guy with the big forehead, right?”

“No. Just my boyfriend.”

Gobi’s eyes widened. There was a moment of silence across the table, and Abed kept his eyes on his plate. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He hadn’t expected this to be so nerve-wracking.

After ten long seconds, Gobi cleared his throat. “Well. I don’t see why not. I didn’t realize…” Abed looked up at his dad, who seemed to be struggling to find words. “Well. I’ll see you then, okay?” He gave Abed a tight-lipped smile.

Abed wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. His dad didn’t seem to be quite disapproving, but he didn’t seem quite happy about it, either. Beyond that, Abed couldn’t tell what his father was thinking at all. Not that that was different from normal. Still, Britta had seemed so confident in this plan, but for the moment Abed couldn’t tell where this was going at all.

Still slightly perturbed, Abed stood up and retrieved his messenger bag from the back of his chair. “See you then, dad. Good night.”

The night before the dinner, one of the few Abed didn’t spend eating with his dad, he received a phone call from Gobi.

“Abed,” He said, his voice low.

“Dad? What is it?”

“You’re still coming tomorrow?”

“Yep.”

“And you’re still bringing… your friend?”

Ah. This smelt of conflict. Perfect. “My boyfriend. His name’s Troy. We’ve been dating for…” Abed tried out a couple of numbers in his head. “Three weeks.”

“Hmm.” Gobi sounded like he wanted to say something else, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“Is that okay?” Abed asked. “You don’t feel disapproving? Or like you have to rethink the nature of our parent-child relationship?”

“Abed…” Gobi sounded a little exasperated. “Since when have you been… gay?”

Oh. Somehow Abed had forgotten that lying to his dad about having a boyfriend meant also lying to his dad about being gay, or at least bi. He wondered if this was going to cause him long-term problems. “Uh… I’ve known for years. I’m bisexual. I didn’t think you’d be okay with it, so I never said anything.”

Gobi was silent for another long moment. “I’ll see you on tomorrow.” And he hung up.

* * *

Troy picked Abed up from his dorm at seven o’ clock the next evening. Abed found himself slightly shaking as he stepped into Troy’s car.

“We’ve been dating for three weeks. We still met at the study group, but we both joined the Greendale gardening club and that’s where you asked me out. We’re keeping it lowkey.” Abed buckled in as he rattled off his list, then looked over at Troy. “You ready?”

Troy grinned. “Yeah. I thought about it and you know what, I think this is going to be fun. It’ll be like playing a role.” He playfully punched Abed on the shoulder. “And it’s to help you out, even if I still don’t understand how. No offense, dude, but you’re a lot cooler than I thought you’d be. I like you, so I’m happy to do it.”

Abed felt something warm blossom in his chest. That might trump “I see your value now” as the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. And unlike Jeff, Troy said it without a hint of irony. Even if it wasn’t apparent from his voice, he knew it had to be sincere. Because of the October Fifteenth pact. No messing with each other.

Abed smiled back at Troy. “Let’s go, then. Operation Fake-Boyfriends is a go.” He reached out and they did their handshake.

When they arrived at Abed’s house, Gobi greeted them with a stoic face and a deep nod. “You must be Troy.” He acknowledged him with his arms folded across his chest.

Troy smiled at him and reached out his hand to shake. Gobi made no move to match him, and after a second he lowered it. “Yeah, I’m Troy. Abed’s boyfriend. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Hmm.” Gobi turned away. “Dinner’s almost ready. Why don’t the two of you sit down?”

Troy glanced over at Abed with a questioning expression. Abed shrugged. He couldn’t tell if this was working, although his dad did seem to have a disapproving vibe going on. Although, granted, that could just be his usual angry energy. It was too soon to tell.

The three of them sat at the table in silence. After two and a half minutes (Abed had been counting) Gobi cleared his throat.

“So, Troy.” He set down his fork. “You’re gay?”

Troy’s eyebrows shot up. He glanced at Abed nervously. “Uh, yeah, I am.”

Gobi nodded awkwardly. Abed matched his gesture, trying to figure out what any of this meant, or whether this was a positive or negative encounter. The jury was still out.

“How’s that for you?” Gobi asked.

“Uhh…” Troy’s eyes kept flickering to Abed nervously, but Abed had nothing to offer. “It’s good? I guess? I mean, I… really like… dating Abed? So being gay’s going well, I guess.”

Abed felt his face heat up unexpectedly. He wasn’t sure if it was embarrassed by Troy’s unconvincing response, or by the fake-compliment Troy had given him.

Gobi was looking at Abed, his expression impenetrable. Abed tried to smile at him. He didn’t think he succeeded. He wasn’t sure how to respond to this. He tried to think back to TV shows about parent meeting their kid’s boyfriends, but he couldn’t think of any that matched this situation. He still wasn’t even sure how his dad was feeling about any of it.

Gobi nodded slowly and returned to look at Troy. “So, Troy, what classes are you taking?”

After dinner, Troy thanked Gobi warmly. As he and Abed rose to leave, Gobi pulled Abed aside in the kitchen. Abed felt his heartbeat quicken. This was the confrontation, the drama, the promised conflict that would show his dad that he needed to be independent. He hoped that Britta was right.

“So, you really like this Troy?”

That wasn’t what Abed had expected at all. But he nodded automatically. That wasn’t even a lie. “Troy’s great, dad.”

Gobi sighed deeply, running his hand over his face. “Abed. I’ve been thinking a lot since you told me about Troy.”

Abed raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“You know how important Islam is to me. And I’ve tried to raise you to be a good Muslim.”

“Dad-”

Gobi held his hand up. “But, I- I want you to be able to tell me things about yourself. Things like…” He gestured vaguely. “Being bisexual. Or whatever you want to be.” He rested a hand on Abed’s shoulder. “I love you, Abed. I want you to be happy.”

This was unexpected. The father wasn’t supposed to just be okay with everything, at least not before the heated confrontation scene. Abed wasn’t sure how to react. “Um… thank you.”

“Why don’t you come back for dinner next weekend? With Troy, of course.” Gobi stretched his mouth into a smile that looked more like a grimace. “I’d love to get to know him better.”

Abed stepped back, just out of his father’s reach. Huh. This wasn’t how he predicted this going at all. “Uh, I’ll let you know. Thanks.” He nodded sharply. “Bye, dad.”

“See you next week.”

Troy was waiting for him in his car. He glanced over at Abed as he strapped his seatbelt. “How did it go? Did you prove your independence or whatever?”

Abed stared straight ahead. “I don’t know. I can’t tell if that worked at all.” He looked over at Troy. “He asked you to come back next week.”

Troy smiled. “That sounds like it worked? If he accepts you for who you are?”

“The point was to gain independence, not acceptance.” Abed pointed out. “But he didn’t ask me to come back tomorrow. So maybe it worked. More worryingly,” He pointed at Troy. “He asked you to come back. We never discussed this being a repeat engagement.”

“Oh.” Troy considered this. “I hadn’t really thought about that. But hey, this wasn’t so bad. I mean,” He shrugged. “I got free dinner and everything. And I’ll never complain about hanging out with you.”

Abed’s chest warmed up. He would never get tired of that – someone admitting that they wanted to spend time with him. Especially when that someone was Troy, who was cooler than anyone else he knew. “So… you’re down for operation fake boyfriends, the sequel?”

Troy shrugged. “Sure.” He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, staring ahead in silence. After a minute, his eyes lit up. “How about this? Since this worked so well for you, maybe it will work for me, too.”

“For you? Is your dad too controlling, too?”

“Nah, but he’s got this girlfriend. And she’s like, my age. Like I’m pretty sure we were in high school at the same time.” Troy shuddered. “It’s gross. And weird. Anyway, my dad’s also like, very Jehovah’s Witness. Like extremely. So, what better way to get back at him for dating a literal teenager than to show up to dinner with my own very gay boyfriend?”

“The revenge-date.” Abed nodded. “Another classic. I’m in.”

They did their handshake, and Troy smiled. “It’ll be awesome dude. Hey, if you need me to, I can keep going to your dad’s house for as long as you need.” He shrugged. “And if I need a fake boyfriend again, I can call you up. Deal?”

Abed nodded. “We’ll be on-call boyfriends. A fake relationship for any occasion, whether to scandalize or prove a point or shake things up.” He felt a small surge of nervousness, because this was sounding less and less like a familiar plot of a sitcom. Pretty soon he wouldn’t know what any of the rules were. He pushed it down and smiled instead.

“Operation On-Call Boyfriend,” Troy grinned back at Abed, starting the engine of his car.

“Operation On-Call Boyfriend,” Abed repeated. “I like the sound of that.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhh homophobia content warning i guess! after this chapter it will be just wholesome fun stuff mostly lolll

Dinner at Troy’s house was even more awkward than dinner at Abed’s had been. Troy’s dad, Clarence, kept staring at Abed and not saying anything, leaving his girlfriend Emily, Troy, and Abed to fill in the conversation gaps. Abed tried to act like what he thought Troy would want a boyfriend to act like – he smiled, talked about sports (or at-least sports movies, which was the best he could do), and complimented Emily profusely on her cooking.

Troy kept looking at him oddly, too, like he was confused. Abed wasn’t sure what Troy was feeling, and it was distracting him. At least with Troy’s dad, he could extrapolate that his silence was a result of homophobia. And that meant that Abed was doing his job. But Troy’s confusion was disturbing him. Troy and he were supposed to be in on this plan together, so there was no reason for him to be confused. Abed made a note to ask him about it later.

Troy seemed more in his jock-persona than usual, too. He waved off Abed’s references to Friday Night Lights and Moneyball and kept talking about his high school football team. He seemed almost – nervous? Abed couldn’t be sure. And yet, several times during the dinner Troy reached out to touch him, patting his shoulder, squeezing his hand. Abed couldn’t tell if it were natural or part of the act, all for his father’s benefit.

At the end of the dinner, Troy’s father pulled Troy aside, just like Abed’s dad had done the week before, leaving Abed to clear the table with Emily.

“Clarence is having a hard time with this.” Emily confided to Abed. It was a little weird that she was about the same age as him, he thought, but she seemed nice. Mature and quiet and soft in a way that Troy’s dad wasn’t. “I’m not a witness.” She continued. “He’s trying to convert me – it’s so important to him. So, he’s having trouble reconciling his faith with his son’s happiness.”

“That sucks.” He told Emily, unsure of how else to respond. He felt a brief rush of gratitude for his father. He hadn’t expected an outcome to Operation On-Call Boyfriend to be a renewed appreciation of his relationship with his dad. The point had been the opposite.

“I’ll try to bring him around.” She handed Abed a dish, smiling. “Troy’s such a sweetheart – he was only a grade below me at Riverside. Don’t tell him I said this, but I kind of figured he was gay, even back then.”

Abed raised his eyebrows. This was new information for his mental Troy folder.

“He was always so much gentler than all of his friends, he cried more easily. He never had a girlfriend the entire time he was in high school, even though he was _prom king_.” She shook her head. “I’m glad he’s opening up.”

Abed nodded. Fascinating. “Troy’s great.” He said, not sure what else to say.

Troy strode into the kitchen. “Abed? Are you ready to go?”

Abed turned around. Troy’s eyes looked red-rimmed. That wasn’t good. Abed nodded sharply.

Troy grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door and to his car. As soon as the door shut, he burst into tears.

Abed hovered his hands over Troy’s shoulder, unsure of what to do. When Troy’s tears didn’t stop, he gently started patting his shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“My dad fucking sucks.” Troy rasped in between sobs. “I don’t know why this hurts so much – I’m not even really gay.”

“What did your dad say to you?” Abed wondered if that question was too blunt. But he couldn’t help if he didn’t know what had happened.

“He told me to get you out of his house. And to keep the whole ‘gay thing’ to myself.” Troy slammed his hand against the dashboard, still crying. “Fuck!”

Abed wasn’t sure what to do, so he tried to think of what Troy would do if their positions were reversed. He imagined himself as emotionally-stable Troy and Troy as emotionally-distraught Abed. Not that Abed would be crying like this. But he pulled emotionally-distraught Abed into a hug anyway. “Shh… It’s okay, I’ve got you.” He whispered, in his best impression of Troy.

Troy wrapped his arms around Abed’s torso. His sobs slowly subsided, and Abed started gently rubbing his back.

“I’ve got you, Abed.” Abed whispered.

Troy pulled back. “What?”

Abed reverted back into himself. “Um, nothing. It’s gonna be okay. We’ll be okay.” He reached out to touch Troy’s shoulder.

Troy sighed, wiping his eyes. “I feel like… I mean I always knew my dad was homophobic. I just didn’t realize how much it would suck to have that directed at me.” His eyes widened slightly. “Did I… just become an ally? I think I’m an ally!”

Abed thought about what Emily had said but decided not to mention it. Even if it was true, and Troy really was gay, that wasn’t any of his business. “You know, we could go back and tell him it was all a joke. I don’t know if ‘getting rejected by your dad for being fake-gay’ counts as the revenge you were looking for.”

Troy furrowed his brow, then shook his head. “You know… I don’t really care about that anymore. I want this to be a wake-up call for my dad. It’s not like he was a great dad anyway, apart from the homophobia, anyway.” His expression hardened. “He needs to realize that.” It was Troy’s turn, now, to pat Abed on the shoulder. “Thanks, dude. I know you didn’t sign up for… all this. But thanks.”

Abed nodded. “Familial conflicts are a necessary component to personal growth. For all characters.” He didn’t think that got across what he was going for. He tried to tap into emotionally-stable Troy again. “What I mean is… your dad loves you. I think he’ll come around.”

This time real Troy pulled real Abed into a hug.

**Author's Note:**

> writing is hard and idk how long this is gonna be hoping that posting part 1 will motivate me to write the rest


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